The president, setting out to achieve an immigration overhaul where many before him have failed, was running into trouble even before he gave his address. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of four Republican senators involved in a bipartisan effort to craft immigration legislation, earlier in the day blasted Obama for opposing a requirement to shore up border security before legalizing up to 11 million illegal immigrants.

Obama’s speech, and a separate fact sheet handed out by the White House, made clear that the administration does not want to link the path to citizenship to border enforcement.

The president said Tuesday that in order for immigration reform to work, “It must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship.”

The comment, albeit subtle, was an apparent reference to a provision in the Senate blueprint that would not let illegal immigrants seek citizenship until border security is strengthened. Obama said that his conditions would only involve the illegal immigrants themselves — he said that they would have to submit to a background check, pay back taxes and fines, learn English and get in the back of the line in order to apply. ….

The president has run into complaints from conservatives that his plan is tantamount to “amnesty.”

But the most problematic objection so far has come from Rubio — a prominent Hispanic conservative who is vital to the bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill.

Speaking on Fox News on Tuesday, Rubio insisted that illegal immigrants not be allowed to obtain green cards — let alone citizenship — “until the enforcement stuff is in place.”

“I think that would be a terrible mistake,” Rubio told Fox News. “We have a bipartisan group of senators that have agreed to that. For the president to try to move the goalposts on that specific requirement, as an example, does not bode well in terms of what his role’s going to be in this or the outcome.”

Furthermore, the McCain-Graham-Rubio triumverate have steered Republicans right into Obama’s carefully staged ambush. By insisting on legalizing the residency status of foreign same-sex partners, Obama presents the GOP with a lose-lose dilemma. Either (a) prove themselves to be “homophobes” willing to vote down the entire plan over the same-sex measures, or (b) further alienate working-class voters by extending citizenship rights to homosexual foreigners.

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